Many approach the Bible as if it were a manual of rules—a checklist to secure God’s approval through their own effort. This is the great error of religion: to imagine that God’s Word is primarily a set of demands, rather than the revelation of His finished work in Christ. But Scripture is not given to drive us into self-effort or law-keeping. The Bible’s central purpose is to unveil the Gospel of grace—the announcement that Christ’s righteousness, not our own, is the sole ground of our acceptance, assurance, and inheritance.
The Gospel of Grace: God’s Power and Righteousness Revealed
When we open the Bible seeking grace instead of rules, we encounter the very power of God for salvation. Paul declares, “I am not ashamed of the gospel, for it is the power of God unto salvation to everyone who believes… For in it the righteousness of God is revealed from faith to faith, as it is written, ‘The just shall live by faith’” (Romans 1:16-17). The Gospel is not a new law, but the revelation that God justifies the ungodly by faith apart from works. To seek rules is to miss the point entirely; to seek Christ is to find life.
If you insist on approaching the Bible as a rulebook, you will inevitably focus on law-keeping and self-effort. This is not a neutral mistake—it is a path that leads to self-deception and, ultimately, to the collapse of any genuine assurance before God. The law was never given as a means of justification. To attempt to be justified by works is to reject the sufficiency of Christ and to forfeit the blessing that God freely gives in Him.
Christ: Our Righteousness, Sanctification, and Reward
The Gospel proclaims that Christ Himself is our righteousness. “Christ Jesus… became for us wisdom from God—and righteousness and sanctification and redemption” (1 Corinthians 1:30). We are not called to supplement His work with our own. The moment you turn from self-effort and law-keeping, and rest wholly on Christ, you receive a righteousness that is not your own—a righteousness that secures your salvation and gives you unshakeable confidence before God.
Paul is explicit: “A person is not justified by works of the law but through faith in Jesus Christ… because by works of the law no one will be justified” (Galatians 2:16). To return to law-keeping is to deny the cross; to trust in Christ is to stand justified, sanctified, and rewarded by grace alone.
The Gospel as Inheritance: Heirs with Christ
The Gospel is not merely the offer of forgiveness—it is the declaration of inheritance. In Christ, you are made an heir of God and a co-heir with Him (Ephesians 1:11-14). This inheritance is not earned; it is received by faith. _“And be found in Him, not having a righteousness of my own that comes from the law, but that which is through faith in Christ—the righteousness that comes from God on the basis
